The Price of Adventure
by YamiShiningFriendship
Summary: Psychoshipping YBakura/YMalik. Rated for Bakura's mouth in the fic. when an adventure goes wrong, Marik does some thinking and Bakura acts on it.


YSF: one-shot!!!!!! Compy's contest has started again and the first pairing is psychoshipping which is Yami Bakura and Yami Malik! Yay!

A/N: for flow of this story I'm moving the location of the game shop to the city's outskirts. I need nearby woods for my plot and you don't get decent woods in the middle of the city.

Disclaimer: I don't own yugioh, I'll get back to you if that changes.

/blah/ - Ryou's mind speech

(blah) – Marik's mind speech

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Domino city, such a pretty city. You think it'd be peaceful and quiet. Sometimes you're right…

"THIEF!" came an outraged shout.

…and sometimes you were dead wrong. Out of the door of the Kame game shop shot two blurs running side by side laughing madly, one capped in white and the other capped in platinum blonde, followed by a third blur who was spewing curses as he tried to catch the other two, tri-colored hair pushed from his face by the wind he created by sprinting after the two. "Bakura I am going to kill you and Marik once I get my hands on you two!" The chaser shouted.

Bakura smirked and looked over his shoulder at the pursuer. "Can't kill something that's already dead, pharaoh!" he quipped before tugging on Marik's arm before turning and darting into the woods that they were running alongside, Marik immediately understanding and following after Bakura. Yami, or Pharaoh the two troublemaking spirits called him, could catch them on level ground, but give Bakura and Marik woods and uneven ground and they could outdistance and eventually lose Yami every time.

Yami started to follow them into the woods but didn't get very far when his boot caught on a root and he went down. Spitting out some dirt he raised his head and glared in the direction of the fading laughter. He knew they saw his oh so graceful fall. With a small growl he got up and brushed himself off. Turning he made his way to the edge of the woods and headed back towards the game shop, plotting his eventual revenge.

Bakura looked down as his Millennium Ring glowed faintly before fading back to normal. "He gave up," he announced, slowing to a trot and then to a walk, reaching up to run a hand through his hair, pushing it back into place.

"Vain much?" Marik snorted, having slowed to a walk as well, turning to look at his friend.

"No, I'm not like the pharaoh. I just hate it when my hair that is not my bangs falls into my face. Speaking of the pharaoh, I'm surprised he didn't notice you messing with his mind so he didn't see that tree root."

Marik chuckled and twirled his Millennium Rod before tucking it back into his belt loop. "When emotions run high, I've noticed he tends to not pay attention to everything, especially when he's spewing curses at you."

"It's a shame. I think he's losing his touch because I didn't hear any new threats and/or curses coming from him. I shall have to try harder to piss him off next time." came the answering chuckle as the two continued to trapeze through the woods, not feeling like returning to civilization at the time. About an hour later found them standing at the edge of a deep ravine, both peering over it, trying to determine if anything of interest was down there.

"This looks too boring to climb down," Marik groused.

Bakura agreed and made to stand from where he had been on his hands and knees peering over. As he shifted all of his weight onto his planted foot so he could rise the rest of the way off the ground, russet orbs widened as the ground, weakened by corrosion from the elements, crumbled under his foot and he toppled sideways into the ravine with a startled cry.

"Bakura!" Marik shouted, lunging forwards to catch his friend. Unfortunately he just missed Bakura's hand and could only watch helplessly as the former thief tumbled down the steep slope. Swinging himself over the edge, Marik started a controlled slide down the slope, hoping that Bakura was ok. Upon reaching the bottom, Marik looked around and winced upon seeing Bakura sprawled nearby, not moving. Hurrying over, Marik felt for a pulse, letting out a relieved breath when he felt the thief's pulse beat against his fingers.

"Come on Bakura, wake up," he urged softly, looking the thief over carefully. He knew he couldn't move Bakura until he woke up so that made his examination difficult. From what he could see besides various cuts scratches and soon to be bruises, Bakura had a bloody gash on his temple and his right leg wasn't supposed to bend that way. Sighing, Marik undid his cloak and covered Bakura with it, careful of the two major injuries and settled back against a tree to wait.

Some time passed and Marik, having grown tired of trying to reach Malik through their link, he was too far away, settled against the tree and did what people seem to do when at a loss…talk. "You know Bakura, it's odd that everyone thinks that we're always evil and insane. I mean, sure, we're quite the nutcases but I don't think we're _always_ cruel. Take us for example. To those who belittle us and think we're scum, we're horrible to, but those who understand our motives, like we understand each other, they find us to be not so bad. Us two, we're kindred spirits…two peas in a pod. I…I care for you as if you were the other half of my soul…" Here Marik trailed off into thought as his brain kick started itself on how to get Bakura out of here.

"Soul…that's right! Me and Bakura are solid spirits! We can vanish into our items when we need to!" A second later, Marik's perked up form slumped again. "However, I can't turn Bakura into his spirit form and get him to the safety of his soul room since I can't enter the millennium ring, and he can't enter the rod…..that's it! I can use the rod to contact Ryou and he and the group can get us out of here!" Pulling out the rod, Marik closed his eyes and activated the part of the mind control feature that allowed him to communicate with others mentally.

(Ryou.)

/Marik? What happened? Where are you and Bakura?/ Ryou answered almost immediately.

(Bakura's hurt. We were walking in the woods and Bakura fell into a ravine when the ground under him crumbled. His right leg is broken and he's unconscious. I think he hit his head on a rock.) Marik replied, looking down at Bakura as Bakura's face seemed to scrunch a little in pain. Apparently he could hear the mental conversation and it was giving him a worse headache. That, in itself, was a good sign since that meant that Bakura was close to consciousness.

/All right, me and Malik will be there soon to help you guys out of the ravine. Sit tight./ Ryou replied before falling silent.

Marik deactivated the rod and sat in silence, watching over Bakura while he waited for help.

It was closing in on another hour having gone by when Marik heard a soft, "Didn't you ever hear that it's rude to stare?"

Marik nearly jumped out of his skin and looked into Bakura's pain filled eyes. "How do you feel?" he asked softly, not wanting to make Bakura's head throb any farther.

Bakura allowed his eyes to slide shut. "I hurt all over…"

"Well that happens when you decide to emulate the rhyme jack and Jill. You just try to relax. You broke your leg so I have to set it," Marik told him, moving towards Bakura's leg.

Bakura was about to voice a sound of protest when a loud crack filled the air as his leg bones were lined back up and he cried out loudly in pain, writhing on the ground in visible agony. Marik took his own shirt in hand and ripped off the sleeves before tearing the sleeves into strips. Finding two straight sticks, he placed one on each side of Bakura's shin and used the strips to bind the sticks tightly to Bakura's broken leg, making an effective splint.

"I'm sorry Bakura, but it had to be done before the bones reknit," Marik explained, scooping Bakura up and wrapping his cloak more snugly around Bakura. Bakura nodded and rested his head on Marik's shoulder. The two sat like that for a little longer until Bakura's copy of the millennium ring lit up and a pointer lifted to point towards the top of the ravine.

Bakura lifted his head a little and looked at the ring. "Ryou," he murmured just before Marik heard his own hikari calling down to them. Marik waved up to the two and stood, cradling his best friend in his arms. Malik tossed down a long rope tied to a tree at the top of the ravine and Marik, shifting his hold on Bakura so that he could have a hand free, grabbed the rope and started hauling himself and Bakura up the slope.

When he got to the top, Ryou immediately laid a hand on Bakura, assisting the albino thief into his soul room to make it easier to transport him. Once they were sure Bakura was settled, the three remaining item holders trekked back towards domino, Marik telling Ryou and Malik what had happened.

…

A few days later, Marik went to see how Bakura was fairing. Entering Bakura's room, where Ryou had told him that Bakura was resting, Marik smirked at the thief. "Comfy?" he asked.

Bakura scowled from where he was sitting on his bed, propped up by several pillows, his leg in a cast resting on a pillow as well. "Extremely, except I don't want to be comfy, I want to go cause havoc!" he snarled, hitting the bed with a fist.

Marik merely grinned and joined Bakura on the bed. "So what was the diagnosis?"

Bakura reached for the nightstand table and took a drink out of a glass that was sitting there. "Fucking rock gave me a bad concussion and my leg snapped in two places. The doctor said with how bad the break was, it was a good thing that you set it when you did. Had we waited till I had gotten to the doctors it would have hurt a lot worse and might have healed wrong. That in turn would have made me a cripple and I would have had to spend the rest of immortality having the bloody Pharaoh make fun of me," Bakura groused, nursing his drink.

"So you're bedridden?"

"Only until my concussion goes away which should be a few more days and then I get to play with crutches until my leg heals."

"Bakura with a wieldable weapon on his person at all times…sounds fun for us and not to the pharaoh," Marik pointed out with a smirk.

"True," Bakura answered, taking another mouthful of his drink. The two sat in comfortable silence, merely enjoying each other's company until Bakura's mind drifted back to something he recalled hearing a few days ago. "So you care for me?" he asked, nonchantly, watching with amusement as Marik's head snapped around fast enough that he should have gotten whiplash, his eyes wide.

"Y-you heard me? I thought you were unconscious!"

"Oh I heard you, and I was unconscious. However, my mind was alert, my body just didn't want to wake up, so I heard your little ramblings. So, what are you going to do about it?"

Marik opened and closed his mouth a few times before he leaned in and laid a tentative kiss on Bakura's lips.

Bakura however, wasn't impressed. He pulled away and frowned at Marik. "I'm not made of fucking lace, tomb keeper."

Marik blinked and then smirked. "Let me try again then," he purred, reaching out to caress Bakura's face before pulling the thief in for a bruising kiss, their lips crashing against each other's. The two held the kiss until both broke apart for the need of air.

"That's what I like about the two of us," Bakura panted slightly, "we're not in love, but we are closer than mere friends, _and_ we have the same tastes in what fulfils us. We don't have to be gentle and that suits us just fine."

"I second that motion," Marik laughed, stretching out next to Bakura. And for the moment, Domino city was peaceful and quiet.


End file.
